Book-dispute chapter coming to end?

After six months, Tamaqua schools have a compromise: Give parents final say on pupils' reading.

April 02, 2001|By GERRY McCLENAHAN Special to The Morning Call - Freelance

The Tamaqua Area School Board may be nearing the end of its struggle to create a book-selection policy that will satisfy parents without invoking cries of censorship.

A compromise, struck by the most vocal voice on each side of the issue, calls for the district's middle school library to set aside a restricted area for books that are challenged and deemed questionable. Students would need parental permission to borrow them.

Board President Larry Wittig, who has said he would like to see books containing sex, violence and profanity removed from the library, is optimistic.

So is George Taylor, a Tamaqua resident and executive director of the Pennsylvania School Press Association.

"This is not going to be one of those things where everyone is happy," Wittig said. "I would be a lot more restrictive, he [Taylor] would be a lot less restrictive, but we are going to see it through.

"This is about the sixth draft that we have looked at, and we may or may not be finished. It's not easy."

Taylor said the latest proposal addresses concerns on both sides.

"I felt there should be more options than just we keep the book or we ditch the book," Taylor said. "This way, I feel that his concerns are represented, and I can live with this because the responsibility rests with the parents."

The issue arose in the fall when school officials began drafting a replacement for the district's 30-year-old book-selection policy. At the time, three parents objected to three books in the middle school library. The parents complained the books were inappropriate for students in fifth to eighth grade.

The books flagged by the parents -- "Where the Heart Is" by Billie Letts, "The Member of the Wedding" by Carson McCullers and Robert Cormier's "We All Fall Down" -- are still under review by the school board and the administration and have not been returned to the library.

Wittig said he hopes the books, especially Cormier's, won't be put back on the shelf in the middle school library, even in the restricted area. He said the board agrees that "We All Fall Down," which contains accounts of violence and a suicide, is inappropriate for the middle school.

It might be placed in the high school library.

While some parents were demanding the removal of books, the school board and administration also faced challenges from residents worried that the policy will create an avenue for censorship by the board.

Six months and six drafts later, the board has what some consider the most promising compromise proposed so far.

"This says the parents should have the final decision, and I agree with that," Wittig said. "Beyond that, well, there will be some talking, I'm sure, but we'll get there."

The current version of the proposed policy had been scheduled for a second and final reading earlier this month, but was one of several matters tabled.

The board is expected to hold the second reading and could enact the policy at its meeting April 17.